Nail-assorting machine.



.L F. STANDiSH.

NAIL ASSORTING MACHINE.

APPUCATION FILED 1,111.12,1914.

Ninn sa l iii l l lM JOHN E STANDISE, or WINTHEOP, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIeNoE TO UNITED SHOE vMACHINERY COMPANY', OE PATEESON, NEW JERSEY, A coEPoEATIoN OE NEW JERSEY.

' NAIL-ASSOETING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 20), 191 7.

Application filed January 12, 1914. Serial No. 811,688.

i A To aZZ whom may concern:

Bc it known that I, JOHN F. STANDISH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vinthrop, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented cer tain' Improvements in Nail-Assorting'lifachinos, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a speciiicatiom-like reference characters on the `drawings indicating like parts in the several figures. i

This invention relates to machines for assorting nails, and is intended primarily as an improvement in nail assortingfmachines having nail guidingraceways of the type disclosed in'United States Letters Patent to Mavo et al. 707,138,7August 19, l902.`

The present invention, like that disclosed in the saidpatent, is herein described and illustrated as embodied in a nail assorting machinein which nails are received upon, and guided by, a raceway disposed in a vertical plane and having a groove or guideway initsiupper edge for guiding the nails toward their destination. Certain features of the present invention, however, are not limited in' their usefulness' to this particular type ofracewaybut may be embodied in a variety of other speciiic forms. l

In machines of the type disclosedin the patent above referred tothe ,practice has been, whenvthe number of nails requiredin a group was less than the number of raceway grooves, to stop the feed of nails from the extra grooves by inserting stop pins or nails inl' holes `in such grooves. This has sometimes caused the unused nails to accumulate and clog the machine so that vit would not properly deliver nails from the raceways which it was desired to use.

The Object of the presentinvention `is to provide a nail assortingmachine, having one or more nail guiding raceways, with simplel and eectivemeans for preventing the delivery of nails by a raceway or raceways and for avoiding clogging of the machine withunused nails. y p

(With this objectin view, afeature ofthe invention consists ina racewayj comprising a `plurality of sections,one of which is arranged to be moved out of alinement with, the rest, tointerrupt the continuity of the raceway'so that nails shall no longer be de livered from it. Preferably the raceway is disposed in a vertical plane and the movable section is pivoted so that it may be moved out of said plane, leaving a space into which nails traveling along the raceway will drop, to be returned to the source of supply. Thus all danger of clogging or piling up of nails is avoided and thev delivery or nondelivery of nails by the raceway is easily controlled.

A further feature of the invention resides in thev combination of a plurality of raceways, some of which are continuous and some of which are of the sectional construction above described. `When nailsl are to be supplied in groups of various numbers, the number of continuous raceways will preferably correspond to the minimum number of nails in any group and the remainder of the raceways will be sectional. Provision will thus be made for cutting off the supply of nails from. as many raceways as necessary, leaving only the desired number of nails to be delivered.

In addition to the features above mentioned, the machine herein disclosed also embodies certain features of construction and arrangements of parts, the advantages of which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the following description.

Inthe drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a nail assort-ing machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a similarview upon an enlarged scale of a: series of raceway sections detached from the machine;

` Fig. 3 is a side view, partly` in section, of a raceway section and its mounting; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing two raceway sections in end elevation. y

Referring to the drawings, 2 indicates generally a series of raceways corresponding to the upper raceway section of the machine of the patent heretofore mentioned. As shownherein, a plurality `of continuous, parallel raceways el, having nail guiding grooves 6 in their' upper edges, are rigid with, and preferably are a part of, the castingS which fo-rms the bed piece and support for the series. The number of these continuous raceways is shown as five, since that is the minimum number of nails which it is desired `to deliver to the heel attaching machine with which this particular 1nachine is to be used, but this number may be more or less, according to the use to which the nail distributing machine is to be put, and still be within the scope of the invention.

Each of the other raceways of the series has portions 10 and 12, which lare also a part of the casting 8, and an intermediate movable section lh The sections le have pivots 16 and 1S projecting from their ends in a line parallel to the groove 6.` The piv quired is less than the number of raceway grooves, the feedl of nailsV from-thevextra grooves `may be? stopped Vbyturning a suit-y able number of sections 14 upon their pivots out ofthe plane of their contiguous portions 1'0 and'12, into the inclinedposition shown atr2t' in F ig. 1, and Aby dotted lines in Fig. 4c, whereupon the nails coiiiingalong the portions 12 of the grooves of those raceways will fall into the space`s'26 between the raceways and be lreturned to thesou'rce of supply. p f The lower ends of the. upper stationary portions 12 of the raceways lare 'shaped` to fit over the top and rear side of theangu` lar support 22 so that the end of veach of these sections is flush with the adjacent end of its corresponding movable sectionfl.v The upper ends of the lower stationary sections l0 are similarly shaped to fit the lower angular support 20. a

For each raceway section 14 there are stop pins 28 and 80'which limit the movement of the' section 14 into vertical and inclined position, respectively. A pin 32, sliding in a hole in the rear end of the section and pressed outward by a spring 3a, enters depressions 36 and 38 in the support 22 to secure the'section in either of thefposi; tions described.` Y Preferably the continuous raceways are located in the center of the machine, with the sectional Vracewa'ys upon either side of, and in parallel relation to, them, because in the operation of this type of machine there is greater certainty of a demand for a `full supply of nails upon the center raceways than upon those at the extreme sides.

Having described the invention, Vwhat is claimed as new and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:- l' f v'1. In a nail .assorting machine, a nail raceway'comprising separated sections having in their upper faces kalined grooves formed to support and guide nailslying position in which its groove isfinfalinem'ent i with the lirstementi-oned groovesto a position in whichits groove is out of alinement l with said first-mentioned grooves. .Y

2. In a nail assorting machine, a nail raceway comprising separated sections having in their upper faces alined nail guiding grooves and an intermediatefsectionlinf the lform of a fiat plate having inaitsupper edge a. similar groove so disposed thatV whensaid flat plate is in a vertical plane the groove Ain its upper edge -forms a continua-tion ofthe grooves in the Vseparated sections, said flat plate Y being :movable out of said vertical plane into a position where the continuity of the grooves Sis interrupted.;

" 3. In l a *nail 'assortmgv machine, a nail raceway comprising separated sections hav-V ing 'in their upper faces alined nail guiding grooves, andan intermediate section in vthe form of'an elongated, flat plate :having-in its upper edge a similarl groove, saidplate being mounted for pivotall movement,Y about yan axis longitudinal thereof, from iai-.position in a` vertical` planein which" `alltheV grooves mentionedare in alinement'ito *al position in an -inclinedplane wherein the groove the plateisfout of alinement with the grooves inthe separated-sections; 'f l1""; a.' I na nailassorting machine, anailfracef way comprising separated sections` having in their upper faces alinedgrooves formed to support nails arranged-end Ito. end and toguide'said nails for lengthwise movement,

andan intermediate section provided with a similar groove' ,movable--fifomfl a position in which-its groove is in falinementrwith :the first-mentioned' grooves to af-"position in which litsvgroove is out `of'alinement with, and parallel to, said first mentioned grooves. `5. :In-a n'ailassortingV machineg a'nailrace-` way'` having aY section f movable into Aa'nrdQout of operative relation to lthe remainder of the raceway, and means foryieldingly securing i otal movement aboutv'an axis parallellvto'th 125 groove; y

' 8. In a nail asserting l machinaa plurality of raceways, someof said racewaysbeing continuousV at allA times and-others ofsaid raceways -havingmovable nail carrying'sec# 13"@ tions, so arranged that their continuity may be interrupted.

9. In a nail asserting machine, a permanently continuous nail guidingraceway and a plurality of similar racevvays upon opposite sides of, and parallel to said continuous raceway, but each having a movable nail carrying section by movement of which its continuity may be interrupted.

l0. In a nail asserting machine, a plurality of parallel raceWays separated by spaces, one of the raceways being provided with a nail carrying section movable out of alinement with the remainder of the racevvay to interrupt its continuity and permit nails traveling upon it to drop into one of the spaces.

11. Nail asserting` mechanism including a raceway having stationary alined end sections, and .an intermediate section disposed 20 ports disposed beneath the adjacent ends of 25 the stationary sections, and an intermediate section pivotally mounted in said supports. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciication in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN F. STANDISH. Witnesses:

JAMES O. I/VRiGHT, IFIARLOW M. DAVIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

